Cricket Report – Round 14 1st XI Report vs SBH

Saturday 18th March played at McKay Oval, Centennial Park

Shore 10/122 (Josh Constantian 24, Lachie Hunt 22) SBH 6/123 (Matt Melville 2/12)

In the wake of a resurgent victory against GPS runners-up, St Joseph’s College, the SHORE 1st XI looked to carry this form into their final game against Sydney Boys’. The injury of GPS leading wicket taker, Ben Hocking, saw young off-spinner, Matt Melville, debut and receive his 1st XI cap at the beginning of the game, a significant achievement towards the end of the season. SHORE lost the toss and a Sydney Boy’s High team with experience at the ground elected to bowl on a thick and slow outfield. This served to their favour and SHORE quickly fell to 4/26, the swing and bounce of the High opening pace bowls seeming to disturb them. Some minimal stabilisation came in the form of a 45-run partnership between Hunt and Robinson, but both were dismissed in impatient fashion, leaving Carney, Constantian, and Fuzes to scrape the side to a measly 6/123 after 48 overs.

A significant bowling effort would be required from SHORE to be able to defend this total. As per usual, openers Tom Fuzes and Sam Walton shared the new ball well, and although they did not take a wicket in the first 10 overs, were successful in restricting the High batsmen to scoring under 2 an over. SHORE was able to continue to maintain High’s slow scoring rate, continuously bowling dots up both ends and restricting runs in the field with some stifling field placements and aggression. This seemed to bother the High batsmen, provoking some dangerous running between the wickets in an attempt to lift the scoring rate, which subsequently saw the first 3 dismissals all fall to run outs. At this point, SHORE’s off-spinners, Bailey and Melville, were continuing to play a significant role in stemming the run flow from the High batting side. Bailey’s 10 overs did not reap a wicket but only went for 14 runs, a remarkable display of economical bowling. On the other hand, Melville’s difficult lines and disturbing pace brought about the dismissal of 2 High batsmen, seeing his figures finish at 2/12 from 10 overs with 4 maidens. Such a stat line on a 1st XI debut for Matt speaks volumes to his ability and passion and he should be commended on this performance. Unfortunately, once the pivotal spinners Bailey and Melville had concluded their spells, High began to take the game away from SHORE, with some aggressive and risky hitting from their number 6 batsmen. Despite SHORE’s bowling efforts, they simply did not have enough runs and High reached their total by the 45th over.

A disappointing end to the final game of the season must not cloud the impressive debut of Matt Melville nor the achievements of the 1st XI this season. It has been a pleasure to play cricket at SHORE this year and write about its results in the record and the conclusion of this

is very sentimental, although I look forward to seeing how the 1st XI perform next year and will always remember the time I have spent playing cricket for SHORE